Hey Brad,

Peace to you and yours. You were right; I found a scripture which talks about Christ coming on the clouds. I assume it is the one you had in mind. It is Matthew 24:30:

Matthew 24:23-31 BBE (23) Then if any man says to you, See, here is the Christ, or, Here; do not put faith in him; (24) For there will come up false Christs, and false prophets, who will do great signs and wonders; so that if possible even the saints might be tricked. (25) See, I have made it clear to you before it comes about. (26) If, then, they say to you, See, he is in the waste land; go not out: See, he is in the inner rooms; put no faith in it. (27) Because as in a thunderstorm the bright light coming from the east is seen even in the west; so will be the coming of the Son of man. (28) Wherever the dead body is, there will the eagles come together. (29) But straight away, after the trouble of those days, the sun will be made dark and the moon will not give her light and the stars will come down from heaven and the powers of heaven will be moved: (30) And then the sign of the Son of man will be seen in heaven: and then all the nations of the earth will have sorrow, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.    [Reference - Dan. 7:13]    (31) And he will send out his angels with a great sound of a horn, and they will get his saints together from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
     Daniel 7:13-14 MKJV
(13) I saw in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. (14) And dominion and glory was given Him, and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations and languages, should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.

I always enjoy talking about the Bible Brad, as it gives me a chance to compare the scriptures you [or others] bring to my attention, with the mental picture I am constructing of what the entire Bible teaches. I then find they fit and reinforce my faith; or that they don't fit and I need to adjust my understanding. I believe that is the definition of becoming noble minded before our Creator. (Acts 17:11)

You and I have talked previously about the "false prophets" or "Man of Lawlessness" which these verses start out by warning us about: A warning against men who would rise up to put forth their own teachings in place of the Bible. (Revelation 22:18-19) Jesus said he had made those wicked ones clear to us - we simply need to learn what the Bible teaches and they are exposed.

Then Jesus tells us in verse 27 that his appearance will be like lightening in a thunderstorm. It lights up everything but you can't really see the lightening itself, or even know what direction it is. It illuminates what is around you though, and enables you to see your surroundings. It does the same for everyone caught in the storm.

In verse 28 Jesus mentions the eagles gathered around the dead body. That seems to imply either we will know the Christ by what we sense from his word, or references his statement that he is the manna that came down from heaven to give everlasting life. (John 6:32-35) Jesus also being referred to as God's word, we might gather to feed on his body as we consider what the Bible teaches. In either case, it appears to indicate we feed on the Christ through God's word the Bible.

Then in verse 29 we see the trouble of those days mentioned, apparently referencing the tribulation of our day; And the sun and moon and stars being disturbed, and the powers of the heavens shaken. Joseph of old had a dream wherein the sun and moon and stars bowed down to him. His father and family recognized the dream to mean they would all bow before him [which indeed did come to pass when he was placed over all Egypt]. The sun and moon and stars in that scriptural reference meant those who were over and/or surrounding Joseph. Rulers are often referred to in the Bible as celestial bodies, and that seems the case here. It seems unlikely the literal stars could fall to the earth, as that would destroy everything, and the Bible teaches we will live forever on the earth.

In verse 30, Jesus says the sign of the son of man will be seen, and the nations will have trouble, and they will see the son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

That is what all who love the Bible are waiting to see then: The coming of the son of man in kingdom power, the appearance of Christ our king. All are wondering how it will happen, and what we will actually see. We likely won't fully understand the details until after it is all over; and we can look back on what happened. The scripture which follows seems to give some insight though. In verse 29, we are told Christ will send out his angels to gather his saints from one end of heaven to the other, or from all over the earth, depending on which translation you are considering. Other translations render those chosen individuals as his chosen ones, his elect, his chosen people, or simply as those whom God has chosen. Clearly, the angels in some fashion gather those chosen by God for salvation. In Ezekiel 9:4-6, we find a prophecy about men being marked in their forehead for salvation, because they were sighing and groaning over the things being done in the earth. Since the period Jesus was talking about would be the time of the tribulation, there will be more to cause the righteous to sigh and groan than ever before. Today, we live in a world where one fourth of the world's population is starving, as just the first thing we might mention. On, and on, the troubles and horrible abuses go. Those who are today sighing and groaning over all the trouble, and who support the light of truth flashing around us from God's word the Bible, may be the ones gathered for salvation.

Seeing the son of man coming on the clouds then, might simply mean those who see him [in the midst of the clouds] are the ones who are paying attention, by learning and understanding what the Bible teaches. All the while we are being judged and marked, based on how we respond to the words of Christ Jesus.

How ever the details are to be worked out, we can all rely on one thing: (Romans 14:10-12) 10 But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you also look down on your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God; 11 for it is written: "'As I live,' says Jehovah, 'to me every knee will bend down, and every tongue will make open acknowledgment to God.'" [Isaiah 45:23] 12 So, then, each of us will render an account for himself to God.
Isaiah 45:21-23 MKJV
(21) Declare and bring near; yea, let them take counsel together. Who has declared this of old? Who has told it from then? Is it not I, Jehovah? And there is no other God besides Me; a just God and a Savior; there is none besides Me. (22) Turn to Me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. (23) I have sworn by Myself, the word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.

ps. I had a good little chuckle after I left your place: Considering what you said about mankind imagining they need to "fix" everything. They take a wonderful food like milk, and think they need to fix it. They sterilize [pasteurize] it so they kill all the healthy bacteria living in it, and take away much of the benefit of drinking the milk. Then, they alter the fat in the milk [homogenize it] so it won't break down when it gets in our blood vessels, and likely elevate our cholesterol and fat. Those processes are likely the cause of much of the intolerance some people have to eating milk products.

They take fresh fruit, and paint it with wax which then hinders the body in it's effort to extract the nutrients from the skin of the fruit. The body also has to deal with the wax we ingest by eating the fruit.

Mankind sees to imagine they need to "fix" everything. It occurred to me it's not a new problem. Adam and Eve felt they needed to "fix" the laws God gave them in Eden. They felt his rules for them were overly restrictive, and they needed to choose for themselves what was right and wrong. God allowed them to live on for some years, and their offspring to continue on in disobedience to him for all these years: To show whether we are really better off without his guidance. The evidence is in: We need God's direction for our lives. God will never again have any reason to tolerate those who want to "fix" things. The earth will soon be filled with loving obedient people, (Isaiah 11:9) who will be thrilled to obey our Creator; Because they know he always has our best interest at heart. (Isaiah 48:17-19)

These are trying times to be alive, but there is hope! (Luke 21:25)

Best,

Joe

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